Al Sarkal reveals the reason for Zagallo’s dismissal from coaching the UAE national team before the 1990 World Cup (video)

The former President of the Emirates Football Association, Yousef Al Sarkal, revealed the reasons for the Football Association’s decision at the time to expel the former national team coach, Brazilian Mario Zagallo, despite his leadership of the “Whites” to qualify for the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy.

Al Sarkal said, in the “Behind the Scenes of the 90 World Cup” program presented by Ammar Taqi on social media platforms: “The decision to expel came because of what he described as the coach’s lack of response to the federation, which was seeking at that time to prepare the team for the world finals,” noting that “the decision was wrong and came as a result of lack of experience.” He added, “Although the Football Association was convinced at the time of the validity of the decision, if time had gone back, the step of changing the coach would not have been taken.”

Yousef Al Sarkal – Former President of the UAE Football Association: We made a mistake in the 90 World Cup qualifiers by excluding the national team coach! pic.twitter.com/FMq1MTYwya

– Ammar Taqi Ammar Taqi (@AmmarTaqi) April 19, 2026

He explained: “The interim committee that was managing the Football Association before us granted Zagallo a leave of absence, and we were in a state of confusion because of his failure to respond to us under the pretext of a leave. There were teams that qualified for the World Cup approaching us to play friendly matches, but we could not make a decision. We tried to communicate with him to develop a program for preparing the team and preparing for the finals, but he did not respond or respond, and in the end the decision was made to change it.”

Zagallo had coached the UAE national team in 1989, and continued for a year, during which he witnessed the historic achievement of qualifying for the World Cup in Italy 1990.

It is noteworthy that Mario Zagallo died in 2004 at the age of 92, after a busy football career, and his name was associated with a prominent historical moment for the UAE national team, leading it to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.